Do it

17th October, 2011

Wrapping up this weekend’s subject of Decisions with what is considered, at least in western 20th century lore to be one of the great lines of our times – I grew up with this line, ‘JUST DO IT’ and for as long as I can remember, people have bleated on about how amazing it is – Sure, it’s a great work of advertising that epitomizes the 20th century globalisation mindset that if you keep your message or your product as inoffensive and as ambiguous as possible, you have the potential to hit the widest possible audience. It’s short and sweet, and it is completely open, but for me, not in a good way – it doesn’t choose a side and it doesn’t imply consideration.

I regularly hear people say that it is far better to live our lives in the moment – to stop thinking about the past or the future and this is a great way to live, guided solely by instinct but the problem with this is that sometimes when we as animals just act without thinking we tend to do things we end up regretting. We have been blessed with the capacity for rational thought – all of us. We should be taking responsibility for our actions, for the sake of our loved ones, for our environment.

If we are to have a mantra for this new generation, I would prefer we don’t just DO IT, but do it with consideration and good intent. By all means DO IT, but do it for the right reasons.

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena Read on…